FilmConvert - Film Stock Emulation for Red Cameras

[Nigel Stanford]

After 3 years of development, Rubber Monkey is pleased to announce the launch of FilmConvert - Film Stock Emulation for Red Cameras.

FilmConvert is software that makes digital footage look like it was shot on film. It matches Red footage to your favorite film stocks, with accurate color and grain.

FilmConvert is not another 'film look' plugin.
We have created a model of the Red One, Red One MX, and Red Epic sensors. Because R3D allows us to get access to the raw digital footage, we can control how the color is decoded and make sure that each color is transformed to the correct film stock equivalent. Film look plugins can't tell which camera you shot your footage on, and so just apply a contrast curve and change the color. It can look ok, but it is not a film stock emulation.

We have also created an accurate grain model. Rather than just blending in an overlay grain scan, we apply different levels of grain based on the color and luminosity of the different parts of the image.

You can choose different film sizes, from 8mm to 35mm full frame. Modeled film stocks include:

• Kodak Vision 3
• Fuji Eterna
• Fuji Reala
• Fuji Vivid

Like our previous software Monkey Extract, you can load in an EDL or XML and render only the footage used in your project. Or render all your footage before the edit takes place.

FilmConvert is currently available for Mac OSX 10.6 and above in the following formats:

• Stand Alone Software
• Adobe After Effects / Premiere (osx and windows)
• Final Cut Pro X, 7, and Apple Motion
• Sony Vegas (windows)
• Adobe Photoshop

We'd like to thank all the alpha testers and Red Users who have helped us out during the development :) Stay tuned for more announcements.

Update July 2012
Major new version, includes the following:

• Many new stocks, including transparency, black & white, and polaroid
• Support for Quicktime footage for Canon DSLRs etc.
• Realtime rendering for QuickTime footage
• 3 way Color corrector
• Presets and many other enhancements

Update November 2012
Now available in the following plugin formats:

• Adobe After Effects
• Adobe Premiere
• Adobe Photoshop
• Final Cut Pro X
• Final Cut Pro 7
• Apple Motion
• Sony Vegas

Update December 2012
Now available with the following camera profiles:

• Red cameras
• Canon DSLRs +5 profiles
• GH2 +7 profiles

Update March 2013
Now available with the following camera profiles:

• Arri Alexa
• GoPro Hero 3
• BlackMagic Cinema Camera
• Canon 7D / 60D

Update May 2013
Added the following cameras:

• Canon 550D / T2i
• Canon 600D / T3i
• Nikon D800
• Nikon D7000
• Panasonic GH3

[Nigel Stanford]

Some examples...
Before and after showing grain:





Side by side comparison showing the color matching:





And here's a video so that you can see it in motion. Watch it in 1080p if you can.

[Nigel Stanford]

Technical Info

Supported Cameras

• Red One
• Red One MX
• Red Epic (preliminary LUTs, will be more accurate when we get our Epic to test with!)
• Canon DSLRs

Operating systems

• Mac OSX 10.6 and above
• Red Rocket is supported in a basic implementation

[Martin Stevens]

Thank you Nigel. I love what you are doing.

I really do hope that you are allowing the Emulation of Film Negative and not just Release Print Stock.

Please have the Windows 7 64 bit version done tonight.....ah, I mean soon...please!

I would like to see it as a plugin for Eyeon Fusion and for Adobe Premiere etc.

Sorry if I have repeated myself here. I commented on your other thread.

So is the grain computer generated, or is it from film scans?

[Nigel Stanford]

Thank you Nigel. I love what you are doing.

I really do hope that you are allowing the Emulation of Film Negative and not just Release Print Stock.

Please have the Windows 7 64 bit version done tonight.....ah, I mean soon...please!

I would like to see it as a plugin for Eyeon Fusion and for Adobe Premiere etc.

Sorry if I have repeated myself here. I commented on your other thread.

So is the grain computer generated, or is it from film scans?

Hi Martin,

We will definitely add the ability to render without the print LUT applied. (edit - now released)

The grain is scanned, not generated. There is however a complex algorithm deciding on how it is applied. It is different for each stock too...

Just to be clear, you would be looking for a windows after effects plugin?

[geoffboyle]

Website says that film was scanned at 4K and no grade applied.

I question this, if the scanner was lined up to match TAF then the film would be much lower contrast and saturation, looking more like the MX footage actually.

So define "no grade"

[Nigel Stanford]

Website says that film was scanned at 4K and no grade applied.

I question this, if the scanner was lined up to match TAF then the film would be much lower contrast and saturation, looking more like the MX footage actually.

So define "no grade"

Hi Geoff,

The color was developed by a guy called Lance Lones, who managed the pipeline at Weta for Lord of the Rings and Avatar.

He has created LUTs that match a status M + print LUT. Basically the process was:

1. Shoot film
2. Develop at Park Road Post
3. Scan at Weta on an Arriscan
4. Apply print lookup

This gave us our film target. We then created LUTs for the each of the 3 Red sensors to match that target.

By 'no grade', I mean that we literally loaded R3Ds into filmconvert, rendered them out, and they match our (target) film. As for the film, only the print lookup was applied to it.

Some have asked for us to create LUTs that don't have the status M print lookup applied. They do indeed have a lower contrast and saturation.

We're going to add this option to the next version. As you can imagine, it would really be for high end productions who are used to dealing with DPX scans.

(edit - version without print LUT now released)

[geoffboyle]

Ah, it's the print lookup that I'm not fond of.

If you're going to be working digitally and distributing digitally why hinder your image with a print look up?

Its a battle I've had again and again when shooting both film and digital.

[Martin Stevens]

Yes, I meant After Effects.

[jake blackstone]

I'd like to understand the reasoning behind creation of a "look" profile for just one specific camera manufacturer. Granted, in this case you will have more precise control over the image, but what about other cameras? Why not add an ability to emulate grain and look for Alexa, Sony, Canon? Lately, pretty much all productions out of Europe for me had been done with Alexa...
I believe we already had this conversation, where many, me included, preferred to do grain emulation at the end of the DI process. Also, often, projects tend to be with mixed sources. Applying film emulation would help in unifying the look of the whole project.